Adam Bandt decries Labor’s ‘take it or leave it’ approach on 2030 emissions target

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has urged the Labor government to consult the new crossbench on its 43% emissions reduction plan, criticising the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, for issuing a "take it or leave it" ultimatum on the policy.

Bandt also called on the government to wind back the contentious stage three tax cuts, which have been legislated but are not due to come into effect until 2024.

"I'm hopeful that the government will shift away from its take it or leave it approach, that they'll be willing to work with this new more diverse parliament," Bandt said. "The only obstacle to greater climate ambition is Labor at the moment."

The Greens will return to parliament next month with the party's biggest ever caucus: 12 senators and four MPs. The progressive party will hold the balance of power in the upper house, with the government needing the Greens plus at least one more crossbencher to pass legislation that the Coalition opposes.

Bandt told Guardian Australia he wanted to work "constructively" with Labor but that an early test will be the government's plan to legislate its 43% emissions reduction target for 2030.

The Greens want Labor to increase that number and place a temporary moratorium on new gas or coal plants, but Albanese on Thursday all but confirmed the plan wasn't up for negotiation. He indicated Labor would find others ways to achieve the target if the legislation was blocked in parliament.

"If the Greens or other parties want to try to block it, well so be it," the prime minister said on Friday. "That will be a matter for them. But we will get on. It doesn't require legislation."

Albanese claimed "the Greens party haven't learned from what happened in 2009", referring to the Greens' opposition to Kevin Rudd's carbon pollution reduction scheme, a longrunning sore point between the two progressive parties.

Bandt said the Greens are open to supporting Labor's emissions plan, and broadly agreed on areas like strengthening mechanisms and increasing the uptake of renewables, but wanted to negotiate the detail.

"We're up for a discussion but the key sticking point will be their desire to open new projects," he said, specifically referencing the Beetaloo Basin gas plan.

"Labor is saying it's their way or the highway. The public has rejected that kind of hairy-chested approach to climate. We're willing to work with Labor but it's not clear Labor wants to work with the rest of the parliament on climate.

"If we can get around that, there's lots of scope for productive engagement."

Bandt indicated the Greens may not back the emissions plan in its current form, claiming the planned reductions were not in line with limiting global heating to 1.5C.

"Labor's climate target means death of the Great Barrier Reef," he said.

Bandt said a 43% emissions reduction was more in line with global heating above 2C, a temperature rise which would devastate reef systems. He suggested emissions reductions of between 50% and 74% would be needed to prevent that level of heating.

"Labor's target is barely above business as usual," Bandt said. "It's an improvement on the Coalition, but it's not hard to be better than a bunch of climate deniers.

"We haven't seen the legislation yet or what's in it, but what's clear is there are many voices in parliament who want the government to do better."

The four Greens in the lower house will form part of a 16-member crossbench, alongside six new MPs in former blue-ribbon Liberal seats elected partly with the help of Climate 200. Bandt said he now saw the House of Representatives as having three distinct sides - Labor, the Coalition and the crossbench - and expected to work collaboratively with his independent colleagues.

The Greens leader said he backed proposals from Kylea Tink and Rebekha Sharkie to reform parliamentary rules around question time to give more questions to the crossbench, and said he hoped the Albanese government would make it easier for MPs to bring on their own private members' bills.

Bandt also warned the Greens wouldn't support an "austerity budget" with fiscal belt-tightening if Labor continued with the stage three tax cuts for high-income earners. Albanese ruled out winding back the legislated tax cuts on several occasions in the election campaign.

"There's no excuse for spending cuts to help fund tax cuts for Clive Palmer," Bandt said.

The Greens took the Brisbane seat of Griffith from Labor, and nearly claimed Melbourne's Macnamara. The two parties are now in a potentially tricky situation where Labor needs the Greens' support in the Senate, but will want to avoid giving the Greens political victories to help cement their recent gains or make further advances at the 2025 election.

Bandt said the expanded Greens team in the lower house meant they now had a mover and seconder for their motions, but remained coy on exactly what other tactics would be employed.

"We don't want to be obstructive but we've got a mandate to push the government," he said.